A 62-year-old resident of the Village of Pine Ridge is facing a felony charge after allegedly slapping a tracking device on the car of his former girlfriend and business partner.
Eugene Bartholome Gargiulo Jr. remains free on $5,000 bond after his stalking charge was upgraded to a felony this past week in Lake County Court.
The investigation began in April when the victim contacted the Fruitland Park Police Department to report that she believed Gargiulo was following her, noting that he repeatedly appeared wherever she traveled. A Ford dealership conducted an extensive search of her vehicle but could not locate a tracker. However, her suspicions were confirmed on May 9 when she took her vehicle to Kent’s Kar Stereo & Window Tint in Ocala. An employee there discovered a black, circular GPS tracker attached to the car, which was subsequently handed over to the police.
On May 11, the victim’s Ring surveillance camera captured footage of a bald white man kneeling beside the right rear bumper of her vehicle for nearly 30 seconds at 5:46 a.m., appearing to search the exact area where the tracker had been found. Additional video evidence showed a man on a black motorcycle looking toward her residence, as well as a man walking slowly past her home while using a cell phone…